I believe the Elite is the best 1-drop soldier printed to date, and is a great 1-drop in general any day.
Rare, indeed, is a 1/1 for one mana with two great abilities that interact nicely.
Provoke is a very powerful creature ability. Early on, you'll be more than willing to trade the Elite for your opponent's Llanowar Elves/Smokebraider/Ballyrush Banneret/whatever to slow him right down and basically put your opponent a turn behind. And of course, since it's provoke, tapping the creature for mana won't save it. If he's using Birds of Paradise, at that point you almost feel bad for him....
Plus, provoke will only get better as the game goes on. With all sorts of lords like Daru Warchief and Field Commander running around, the Elite will get to a respectable size fast and suddenly be able to eat an opposing creature every turn. Just one Warchief makes him into a ... (see all)
Posted By:
Kirbster
(6/24/2012 12:34:02 AM)
White at its tricky best-- it's fantastic.
Posted By:
Zuriga_Sungama
(3/4/2011 6:39:35 PM)
This is actually a DAMN good card, especially at common. You can totally tie up your opponent's fattest creature blocking this guy without any damage!
Posted By:
ratchet1215
(9/5/2009 12:04:22 PM)
Glorious, it works with archers, banding, decoys, etc.
Posted By:
mrredhatter
(10/1/2009 9:20:15 PM)
Into my soldier deck you go little fella.
Posted By:
VirtueVsVice
(11/11/2009 6:26:10 AM)
Superb. This is my one-drop workhorse of my soldier deck; the provoke keeps getting stronger as i add Shared Triumphs and Daru Warchiefs to the table. Also, some Mobilization for attack-defense. Damn i miss the Onslaught block :(.
Posted By:
DespisedIcon
(8/12/2010 11:37:14 PM)
I'd take him even if he only had provoke into my soldier/equipment deck
Posted By:
Econael
(1/16/2010 12:11:01 PM)
I was amazed at how useful this card was when I first played with it; I can't ask for much more from a 1 cmc creature.
Posted By:
pixieCrack
(6/7/2010 8:23:29 PM)
I believe this creature has as much as you can ask from a 1 mana cost creature. Plays wonderful in pauper decks, use it with some cheap exalted creatures and you can leave opponents creatureless from the first round. And when its time for the big guys he is still of use as a very good defensive card or as a decoy so that the other creatures can sneak behind the blocker. Please Reprint!!!!
Posted By:
vardaris
(5/8/2010 6:55:33 PM)
Its great as a blocker. If you'll use Basilisk Collar, this will become an efficient killer. And if you'll add Field Marshal, this creature becomes Lifelink, Provoke, Death-Strike; a superb killing machine.
Posted By:
jumpenrun
(12/7/2011 5:10:23 AM)